McCain for President or How Obama doesn’t get it

In two weeks America will have a new President elect. On November 5th, either Barack Obama or John McCain will be waiting in the on deck circle, preparing to step up to the plate on January 21 ( let’s face it the 20th is ceremonial). But how will they get from here to there? If you are Barack Obama and the media, it will be because they confused voters enough to make them dizzy through their endless spin cycle.

It started two weeks ago with “joe the Plumber”. Joe was a normalguy asking a question of a Presidential hopeful, Barack Obama. To his credit, Obama gave the only answer to the only tough question he has ever been asked and stated that Joe would have to “spread the wealth” if he bought a business that makes $250,000 or more a year. Since then “Joe” has become a villain to the media. ABC,CBS,CNN, etc have cast doubt on this plumber from Ohio by questioning his income tax returns, his divorce, his job, and even his legitimate right to vote in Ohio. ALL BECAUSE HE ASKED A QUESTION!!!!!!

What did Senators Obama and Biden do in the wake of “Joe” asking a question and then being attacked by the media? The Senators continued, and still continue, the attack on this plumber. In stump speeches across America, Obama and Biden have attacked Joe saying that they don;t know of any “plumber” making $250,000 a year. They have attcked his work ethic saying that the real “Joe the Plumber” would actually be helped under an Obama plan because he would not be a plumber who makes that much. In other words the real “Joes” of America would never aspire to owning more than their fair share of the market. Senator Biden might even call the plumber from Ohio “unpatriotic” because he would refuse to pay higher taxes as a small business owner.

AHHHH the spin!!

Then Colin Powell comes out and says that he is endorsing Obama. Immediately the surrogates and pundits rush the airwaves and say that Colin Powell is a man whose judgement is sought and respected by all leaders. Yes, Powell is a well respected member of the Armed Forces as well as several Presidential Administrations. But only 4 years ago Powell was the demon child who forced America into a war in Iraq, a war Obama “voted” against in the Illinois Senate(?).

With Powell’s endorsement the surrogates and Democratic pundits had to come up with a back story that supported Powell and Obama that did not factor in race. Ah ha! Now we have Colin Powell, the well respected, smart, and totally unbiased General was duped by the Bush administration and sold totally false information that he was forced to pass on to the U.N. I still respect Colin Powell and do not believe that race was the deciding factor in his endorsement but I can not believe that this man who was smart enough to rise to prominance in the military and politics was “duped” by the same President liberals criticize as uneducated or stupid.

AHHHHH the spin!!!!!!

John Murtha. Beloved Congressman from PA. Democrat. Supporter of Barack Obama. The same Obama who said us hicks in PA cling to our guns and religion and hated immigrants. It was John Murtha, in defense of this Barack Obama and the latest poll, stated that PA, at least the western half, may not go to Obama because PA is full of racist people who vote on color alone. Wait!! This week he apologized and said that PA was not racist it was just a redneck state. How do you spin that?

If you are a Democratic pundit you simply say that what he said was “years ago” or “what he meant was simply” and all is forgiven. What about this comment and Obama’s “clinging” comment being taken together to set a pattern? Irrelevant! Let’s move on!

AHHHH the spin!!!!!!

But move on we shall, to Joe Biden. Good old Scranton Joe! (It’s Thursday, his day to be from Scranton.) Just when he though the recording devices were off and no one was listening he says “mark my words”, “if you don’t remember anything else I say in this whole campaign”, if Senator Obama is elected he WILL be tested by the world in a “GENERATED” crisis created by other countries around the world. Then he even says that he doesn’t know if Obama will make the right decision initially but asked his supporters to stand with him anyway until he figured it out. Don’t worry Joe, we won’t forget this one just like we haven’t forgotten what you said in the primary.

The pundits and surrogates are on the move again! See what he meant was every President is tested and Obama will be no exception, they say. “Look at Reagan or Kennedy” they squawk! And as they don’t mention that Obamahas a wait and see foreign policy coupled witha new age “let’s talk about it” negotiating style, they leave out the fact that Reagan and Kennedy responded to their respective crisis with overwhelming force. Furthermore, the pundits yell, Obamaknows how to surround himself with people who know stuff, like Joe Biden and Colin Powell while John McCain has only lived through or legislated past crisis.

AHHHH the spin!!!!!!!

Finally, if the clothes make the man what is wrong with the woman getting some nice clothes too. While Barack Obama spends hundreds of dollars on each suit from Burberry or whoever the latest designer is, the RNC shelled out $150,000 for new clothes for the seven, that is 7, members of the Palin family. Roughly $21,000 per person. The RNC, a private organization that receives donations from people like me, bought clothes out of contributions, not tax money, for the VP candidate. And the clothes are going to be given to charity after the election. What is wrong with that?

According to the pundits and commentators, it just shows Sarah Palin’s inexperience.(?) Joy Blowhard from the view apparently has a real issue with this saying that Palin usually shoots her clothes but that style would not work on the campaign trail. ABC, et al, raises the question to voters that if Sarah Palin can afford a new wardrobe costing $150,000 from Neiman Marcus ” does she really share the same values as”, yep you guessed it, “Joe the Plumber”? I assume Brian Ross and Wolf Blitzerwill do in depth stories about boxers or briefs next.

AHHH the spin!!!!!!!

Be careful waht you listen to or see on the news. Even Fox News. Today the new AP poll came out and showed a dead heat in the race for President. A trend that has been seen in other long time polls. Yet today on ABC’s Good Morning America, George Stephanoplois did not even mention the AP poll numbers, something he regularly does. Instead he quoted the Quinipiac Poll numbers and showed state by state polls done by other polling organizations. Why? bias. And as if they are finally seeing the light, this week a CNN reporter even admitted to their bias in reporting!

The spin won’t slow down in the next two weeks. In fact it will only get faster. Look for the top news story being about Barack Obama’s compassionas he deals withhis “Grandmother who raised him” and her broken hip. I’m sure this story will become one about health care and the state of the economy in Hawaii. But voters beware! It’s all spin. In the last two weeks look beyond the spin and read the issues and listen to words and form your own opinion. Otherwise it’s like getting on a merry-go-round and asking Obama to push. Faster! and Faster! you cry until you don’t know up from down, right from left.

Attens,card ding the town hall meeting at the Scranton Cultural Center was a great experience. As the first Republican to address the Irish Presidential Forum, McCain was praised for his continued support of Irish issues and McCain pledged to work to keep peace in Ireland as President. The event with McCain included a few questions from the audience and lasted about one hour.

As we left the Cultural Center we were greeted with protesters for Obama. Unlike people with real convictions however, these protesters were paid. One guy was only too happy to announce that calling John McCain a traitor and Sarah Palin’s children whores was his job. Others were paid representatives of the SEIU, union reps. These people were given paid time off of work to protest John McCain and his candidacy. By the way did I mention most of them were eating their lunch?

Protest is fine, from people with convictions. But the robots I saw in Scranton were nothing more than paid hypocrites who argue for representation in the workplace but fight for an open ballot system of voting, known as card check which Sen Obama supports, that uses fear to install unions in the workplace by not allowing a basic freedom, the freedom of expression. ( For those not familiar, card check would allow union reps to pressure people to sign a card publicly in favor of a union. These cards would then be used in place of a secret ballot system currently used to install a union. Once in place the union reps would know exactly who voted for the union and essential allow them to put pressure on management to get rid of those non believers.)

But the paid protesters also showed me why unions matter. Out of 17 protesters, 10 were SEIU reps( 9 of which were eating lunch), 4 were Move On paid reps, 1 was a photographer and 2 were given signs coming out of class at the University of Scranton. Which just goes to show that without union paid representatives, Obama lacks more than just experience and plans for America, he also lacks support.

After watching local coverage of Biden’s appointment to VP today I can only guess that the only reason Biden was given the nod was because of his ties to Scranton. Forget a candidate that can carry the state of PA, Biden can carry Scranton and Lackawanna County. It is true that NEPA will be a bell weather area for the candidates but the love being shown for this “native son” is off the charts.

Joe Biden left NEPA when he was 10. His “close” friends include the family that bought his childhood home. “Supporters” showed up at a local bar to watch Obama/Biden make their first appearance together and were in love instantly simply because of the “D” next to both of their names in the Senate roll call. Relatives of Joe Biden were nowhere to be seen, he doesn’t have any here.

Additionally the national media played up the Scranton roots theme. On at least ABC, who had an entire docudrama based on Biden prepared, Biden’s Scranton connection was announced multiple times. This was an apparent nod to Hilary supporters in the area who were given so much national coverage during the primary. But the media doesn’t have Hilary anymore and will win votes for Obama with any angle they can get, even if it means exploiting a connection that is long gone.

I’m not saying Biden can’t call Scranton his boyhood home, but his roots are long gone. Sen Clinton at least has family buried here and did visit often throughout her life. But to say Sen Biden is from Scranton is like saying I am from Cleveland because I lived there for several years or from Maine because I was born there. In essence, I am the perfect VP candidate if ties to a city is the criteria for vetting a VP.

I missed most of the love fest today, as I was meeting Gov Pawlenty at the campaign headquarters of Chris Hackett in Dallas, PA. The possible VP nominee was in town to stump for McCain and the other Republican candidates in the area and was a great guy. His words focused on issues and not houses, as Biden’s comments did. The Governor’s support for McCain was evident as he talked with supporters, unlike Biden’s whose words today reflected his role as attack dog for Obama as he sidestepped his “no learning curve” comment of less than a year ago when talking about Obama’s inexperience. The difference in styles was evident today, with Obama and Co doing what they do best, substituting substance for style.

Will Sen Biden help carry PA and NEPA in particular? I doubt it. But judging by the media coverage today, Democrats in the area are falling in love all over again with their “native son”. But, unlike their passionate romantic love of Hilary, it’s a platonic love for one of their own who they don’t want to see fail.

Obama chose his running mate last night, overnight, while we were sleeping. ?. Apparently Joe Biden got the nod because of his extensive foreign policy background and, like Clinton, is a native of Scranton,PA. Of course, I don’t think Biden will be embraced as a native son the same way Clinton was when she campaigned here this year.

In another blunder by the Obamacampaign, a text message was sent out to announce the pick AFTER the media was alerted to Joe Biden’s status. His promise to send supporters the text first because of their undying support was broken around 3am when many supporters received the text. So much for the political cartoons and pundits joking about McCain’s inability to use texting.

Will this hurt Obama? No, but Biden won’t help that much either. Biden has been a critic of Obama and he voted for the war in Iraq before he was against it. Does Biden also want out of Iraq because his son is facing deployment in the region? Biden is also a beltway insider, a staunch liberal who has voted with his party 96.6% of the time http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/110/senate/party-voters/ (Obama has done so 96% of the time), and, for her supporters, is still not Hilary Clinton. Biden will also have to overcome what appears to be a rough exterior and a tendency to talk, and talk, and talk. He will also have to overcome his age, a charge many Obama supporters level against McCain. Biden is 66, only 6 six years younger than McCain.

Biden probably was a good choice for Obama. They share many of the same ideas and Biden won’t outshine Obama’s own spotlight. Maybe he can even become another one of Obama’s crazy old uncles. But in a year where the VP choice is so critical, did Obama make the right pick. I think voters will say NO on election day and go for McCain/Romney in November.

As scared as I am of the two Democrats running for President succeeding, I can’t help but admire the political prowess of Sen Clinton. This weekend she went door to door in Scranton,PA asking for votes. Desperation? Maybe, but it worked!

While Sen Obama spent the weekend defending his “bitter” Americans comment, his supporters were answering their doors to find Sen Clinton standing there with hat in hand. In at least one publicized story, a man who had been an Obama supporter, not by name only but with a yard sign to show his support, switched his vote to Sen Clinton after she showed up to ask him for his vote. It’s hard not to admire the door to door campaigning of a former First Lady even if you disagree with her platform. Of course she is only swaying bitter gun clinging Pennsylvanians with this tactic but even they know how much their vote counts on April 22.

Annie Oakley may have stopped just short of bringing a case of beer and a round of bullets with her as she visited homes in Scranton this weekend, but her message was the same–“I’m more like you than Sen Obama!”. After spending most of her campaign trying to figure out how to get that message across, perhaps she should thank her opponent for giving her the best opportunity she has had to show off her “common man” talents. And while the path to my house is blocked with McCain signs, at least I know that if she does show up to talk politics, Sen Clinton won’t be offended if I offer her a cold one as we sit and discuss all the bad policy decisions her husband made regarding gun control.

Scranton caught a glimpse of Sen Obama last night. That’s it, just a glimpse. Obama arrived in town and ducked in the back door of a local eatery with a quick wave of his hand to supporters outside. Once inside he taped a round-table discussion for MTV with Iraq war veterans. It will air later, no doubt when they promote their new movie Stop Loss. Then on to the Radison in Scranton. Sen Obama gave a 10 minute speech to about 500 people about his Irishness(?) and the history of the Irish in Scranton and America. Again he sidestepped the supporters outside presumably to avoid the scattered protesters also outside. Then he was gone.

What can you say about his visit other than it was a waste of time? News coverage of the event is taking a backseat to the opening of a new newsroom in Stroudsburg. Talk radio is trying to defend, with little conviction, his not talking or shaking hands with supporters at the airport or at the events. And people were generally nice when interviewed, saying it was nice of him to come and give a little speech.

Sen Obama did not gain any votes, and may have cost himself some, with his visit to Scranton yesterday. The die hard fans of the rock star are scratching their heads today wondering why the man in the stylish, but not very Irish, green tie didn’t even come to say hello. Some have even called local talk radio hosts to say that they were offended by Obama yesterday. Ultimately Mr Obama’s campaign will focus on Philly and Pittsburgh so I do not expect he will treat NEPA with any sense of urgency. After yesterday it is clear he thinks he has lost here already. That’s the first thought Sen Obama and I can come to an agreement on.

This weekend was the annual Irish migration to NEPA. Those who are and those who want to be Irish came to celebrate St Patty’s day in Scranton on Saturday and Wilkes-Barre on Sunday. Sen Clinton was one of those wanting to be Irish, marching in the parade on Saturday and shaking as many hands and holding as many babies as possible. Sen Obama’s supporters were chanting loudly and registering voters for the April 22 primary. Sen Obama was absent from the festivities but opened HQ in both cities on parade day. But where was Sen McCain’s support?

As I walked the parade on Sunday in Wilkes-Barre, I wore a McCain campaign button ( I was with another group so a larger sign of support was not appropriate). Out of the 15,000 reported people attending the parade, I saw only one person make an attempt to show support for McCain. The local Republicans were not out signing voters up for the primary nor were they passing out any signs,stickers or buttons for support. Senators Obama and Clinton made strong showings at both events and, in the case of Sen Obama, had loud chanting supporters. Voter registration drives were happening from both of the Democratic camps and, again most visibly, Obama was leading the effort for registration.

While Sen McCain has wrapped up the nomination ahead of the 4/22 primary in PA, supporters in NEPA and across PA must get out in any way possible to show support for Sen McCain’s message. Senators Obama and Clinton have a tough six week fight ahead of them in PA and will undoubtedly get most of the media coverage. (Sen Clinton, I predict will still win PA by a large margin.) However, it is equally important that Sen McCain’s supporters are visible during this time to remind voters that there is a candidate with a solid record of leadership both in his party and across party lines.

The lack of a Republican voice during the parades this weekend was troublesome. Again, where were the Republicans? I will continue to do my small part and can only encourage others to start showing their support in PA, and NEPA specifically. Let’s not let our voices be drowned out in the tidal wave of support being shown for both Senators Obama and Clinton.

Today’s the day! Sen Clinton is coming to Scranton in a few hours to make her first PA pit stop on her way to winning the state in April. Her strategy is solid coming in tonight. She is having some Old Forge pizza on her way from the airport, followed by a visit to the Rodham house to reconnect and reestablish her roots here in PA and then on to Scranton High for her 6PM show. All three stops give her votes with the locals. She could tie it up in NEPA tonight if she brings some Old Forge Pizza to the rally.